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Pledge... Run/Walk... Help end hunger in Oakville LOCATION Heritage Square, Kerr St & Florence Drive Oakville, Ontario (Parking at Kerr St & Speers Rd) in support of Kerr Street Ministries Help Fill the Food Bank Shelves: Bring Non-Perishable Food Items Out To The Race www.5ksmturkeyrun.com5K Run/Walk + 1K Childrens Run TEAM CHALLENGE Team up with your family, friends, co-workers or school and make a difference together! Prizes for the top team. SCHEDULE Start Times: 7:30am Registration 9:00am 1km Childrens Fun Run 9:30am 5km Run 9:35am 5km Power Walk Thanksgiving Monday October 11, 2010 O.T.F.A. Certifi ed Course w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Th ur sd ay , O ct ob er 7 , 2 01 0 1 0 By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Two challengers are hoping to unseat the incumbent Roger Lapworth for the Ward 4 town council position in the upcoming Oct. 25 municipal election. Running against Lapworth are Susan Sheppard and Brian Burton, who have both been involved with various community initia- tives. Brian Burton Burton, who stresses that hes not related to Mayor Rob Burton and is younger, too, has retired from running a manufacturing busi- ness in Oakville. He has an engineering degree from the University of Toronto and has worked with engineering firms around the world. He spends time volunteering with var- ious social and sporting groups and has worked with various development commit- tees. He has lived in Oakville and Ward 4 since 1989. The community advocate said he wants to protect the Natural Heritage System in north Oakville. It was an eight-year battle to get the province to turn over 1,200 acres of north Oakville land to Conservation Halton to pro- tect Ward 4 from becoming a victim of urban sprawl, he said. It will require constant vigilance to ensure the Natural Heritage System remains intact, does not get turned into a site for infra- structure and does not get nibbled away at the edges as have previous green spaces. He adds that the plans to extend Burnhamthorpe Road through the system need to be reconsidered. Somehow we have to find a way around this thing or delay it long enough that we can come up with an alternative without ruining the Natural Heritage System, he said. Hes worried that once roads and bridges are built through the system, they will be fol- lowed by intersections and before long the nature system will vanish. He doesnt want to see any construction through the system. The problem is that road plans were made 10 years ago, while the Province imposed the natural heritage desig- nation on it six years ago, he said. He added Milton is tunneling its sewers through the system. He wants to be on coun- cil to make sure that Milton lives up to its promise of tunneling and does not start build- ing on top of it. He also wants to: control town spending, so that spending increases are in line with population growth; to improve transparency at Town Hall and at Oakville Hydro. Roger Lapworth Lapworth was first elected to the position in 2006 and is currently seeking his second term. He was educated in England in the finan- cial management and audit field and has spent more than 30 years working in the field with positions such as vice-president of finance and chief financial officers for local corporations and ran his own tax consulting business. The 67-year-old has lived in Oakville since 1997, all of which time, save for a six- month period between 2009/10, he has lived in Ward 4. He said working in the financial industry helps him with town finances. My being in the financial industry all my life as an accountant, chief financial officer, director of finance, VP finance, I understand how the numbers work, he said. However, the biggest issues in Ward 4 that he wants to deal with are health (particularly air quality) and safety (referring to speeding on roads). There is poor air quality in our ward. Its better than it used to be. But when it comes up from Hamilton we get it first, he said. He added that there is also more traffic in Ward 4 than any other Oakville ward, which adds to the air pollution, and said there is a lot of idling on the busy roads. He believes the solution to this is to improve traffic flow, which he said is being worked on currently with the widening of the QEW and Dundas Street. We will see an improvement when the QEW is completed through Oakville and when Dundas is widened, he said. Speaking of his other key issue, he said he wants to stop people from racing on larger roads. He added it even happens on smaller roads around school zones, which he wants to stop. He calls for more police presence on the roads and tougher enforcement, as well as more stop signs and traffic lights as a solution. He said council will have to deal with the new hospital, which is going to be built in Ward 4. He said whatever the Town plans, it will be the most efficient plan for the resi- dents of Oakville. We need it, it will save lives, it will be a major investment for everybody and it will be worth it at the end of the day, he said. Susan Sheppard Sheppard said she wants to represent the community she cares about, where she has worked with various groups in different sec- tors and on numerous community projects. She has lived in Oakville and Ward 4 for 17 years. Shes held several directorships with non-profit and charitable organizations around the community. She was also a trustee with the Halton District School Board from 2003-06. She was mentored in various fields, by professionals such as lawyers, accountants and journalists. I know the community extremely well. Ive worked with all levels of government, she said Ive built strong relationships with the private sector and stakeholders in the community. She said the community both needs and wants the hospital, but there are concerns that need to be addressed. The concern is there is no plan to pay for the $200 million commitment that weve made and the residents need to know how were going to manage that payment and how that affects them on a personal level, she said. She added building the hospital, the relat- ed business park beside it and the infrastruc- ture requires planning oversight and all pay- ment options have to be investigated. She also noted that payment options have to be balanced for everyone, including busi- nesses, so that businesses owners are not dis- couraged from coming to Oakville because of high costs. We need the businesses to use those employment lands because we need those taxes, she said. Because Ward 4 is the largest, both geograph- ically and by population, she said its employment lands need to be managed in the area properly to ensure that not only businesses come, but also so that they provide employment opportunities for the locals. Furthermore, she said having suc- cessful businesses in town will mean there will be money to pay for the facilities Oakville wants. We are 83 per cent residential in Oakville, which is way out of balance with any other communities around Ontario, she said. Other issues, she said include making sure the towns budget is transparent, so that resi- dents understand where the money is coming from and where it is being spent. Furthermore, she said managing growth is essential and there needs to be more democ- racy at council, which can be achieved through discussion and debate. Three candidates running for Ward 4 town councillor Seventh in a series Brian Burton Roger Lapworth Susan Sheppard